Journal box lid



July 5, 1949. a. R. ANDERSEQN JOURNAL Box LID Filed Aug. 24, 1945 INVENTOR.

Geo/ 9191i. Jude/5e22, BY v Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOURNAL BOX LID George R. Andersen, Oak Park, Ill.

Application August 24, 1945, Serial No. 612,408

3 Claims.

1 This invention relates to enclosure covers and has special reference to a lid for a standard railroad car journal box.

The standard journal box now in use is adapted to be associated with an axle and provides a source of lubricant for the axle and its associated bearings. In ordinary practice the entire journal box is an integral casting and is provided with the usual opening through which the axle and bearings are serviced. The opening is normally adapted to be closed by the lid, and, since the journal box is a casting, the edges of the opening are usually rough, resulting in difiiculty in affecting a tight fit of the lid upon the periphery of the opening so that dirt, grit, snow, rain, etc., may enter the box if provision is not made to prevent it.

Consequently it is the principal object of this invention to provide a journal box lid so constructed as to provide adequate protection against entry of foreign matter into the journal box.

Another object of the invention is the provision of :a journal box lid which is inexpensive to make and maintain and which fulfills all requirements expected of it in service.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a journal box lid having flanges overlapping corresponding sides of the journal box and formed so as to almost engage said sides re-.

mote from the service opening to said :box and thereby to materially retard passage of air between the sides of the box opening and coperating areas of the lid and consequently reduce entry of foreign matter into the box.

Present journal box lids are usually pressed of fiat material and are not provided with side flanges, other than a slightly turned edge for stiffening purposes. As a consequence of this, due to th high speed of trains, the pressure of the air currents against the windward side of the box is sufficient, together with the vibration of the lid due to service movements of the car, to jar the box lid sufiiciently for undesired entry of foreign matter blown into the box by said currents. It is, therefore, one of the more specific objects of the invention to provide a flanged or hood type of journal box lid which will reduce to a bare minimum the amount of foreign matter entering the box through the service opening thereof.

Journal box lids are usually hinged at the top to the journal box and in service are required to be opened several times a day, and experience shows that the face of the box opening wears unevenly or irregularly and that the lugs wear irregularly, resulting in positive openings between I lid and box for direct entry of foreign matter therethrough, and causing added labor, expense and material to service said boxes. With my improved flanged or hood type of lid, in actual use on a large midwestern railroad, the labor cost in servicing journal boxes has been reduced fifty percent, the average quantity of foreign matter entering the box has been reduced to materially under fifty percent, and consequently the liability of hot-boxes has been reduced to a minimum.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing wherein like reference characters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a journal box lid incorporating my invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section through the lid on line 2-2 of Figure 1 and the associated part of the journal box.

Figure 3 is a cross section on line 3-3 of Figure 1 taken at right angles to Figure 2.

In the drawings a portion of the journa1 box is shown at I and is provided with the usual opening 2 and the upper hinge lug 3 disposed adjacent the opening and cast integral with the journal box. This lug 3 is provided with a hole 4 adapted to receive a pivot pin for pivotally mounting the journal box lid 5 on the journal box through the spaced hinge butts 6.

The lid comprises a main paneled body portion 1 or plate having its bottom 8 and sides 9 inwardly flanged. The upper edge is interrupted and formed with the spaced hinge butts '6 which are preferably continuations of the material of which the body portion is formed and bent into hollow cylindrical form adapted to surround the pivot pin to provide the pivotal connection therefor. The outer edges of each butt 6 is formed with a projection l0 which may be bent downwardly across the ends of the pin to thereby maintain it in place.

It will be noted in Figure 2 that the contour of the bottom wall of the journal box adjacent the opening 2 is of somewhat ogee form, as at I I, and that the body portion 1 of the lid extends across and contacts, as at [2, the bottom edge of the opening.

The Association of American Railroads, Operations and Mechanical Division Specification M--45 provides:

(b) The sides of the lid, and the top portion outside of the hinge lugs, shall have a A in. flange,

The flange 8 not only extends inwardly so as to overlap the ogee portion ll of the bottom wall and the side walls of the journal box at least three times the minimum required by the Association of American Railroads rules until it almost contacts the outer surface of said ogee portion ll of bottom wall, leaving a slight opening I3, but is also so formed that it cooperates with the included portion of said ogee wall to form an enlarged space 29 having a cross section larger than the cross -sectioniof the slightiopenill I 3 so that the force or pressure of any'aircurren'ts passing through the slight opening l3 would =be materially reduced by expanding or circulating into the enlarged opening 20, thus reducing athe force thereof to pass between the lid and the portion I of the journal box. This latter opening 20 thus would form a trap fonforeignrmatter entering therein with said air currents.

In Figure 3 it will also be noted that the side walls IQ of the journalizbox are substantially pariallelzand that the inwardly extending sidefianges .iB-x-Q :are in close proximity; tozthe exterior surfaces of said sidesilfi asat H, to form:a shield :to materially retard :passage of airbetween the asides of the'box 'opening and'cooperating areas .ofthelid.

' The flanges 8 .andI9-:-9ipreferably extend;con-

'.tinuously about the-sides and bottom of the lid.

:It will be 'noted -in.Figures 2 and 3 that the ;at leastthree timesvbeyondthat .which would be necessary for a mere -'stifiening flange for the lid Lin .order to comply with the Associationtof American Railroads rules.

The unusual depth and taper of these flanges ..cause the :lid :to .adjust :itself :in relation zto .the

walls of the box and :to zthe :service iopening .ztherein. See FigureB.

:Projecting: downwardly andoutwardlyi-from. the bottom portion of the flange 8 Iaprovidesailip aor zirefiange 23 which '11 :is iprovidedrwith 28.!1' taperture or hole 24,.and.a;notch25.directlyrtherebelow .and .in :alignment "therewith, :whichxnotchiprevents a packing iron.and-hook:.26 from slipping .zsideways when said hook :is in lengagement with .the aperture 24, asrindicated in-dotted :lines, Eigure .2.

..My invention has to doxwith the journal loox lid .and .its relation .tovthezboxz-as above (described, and, of course, it is provided with'the usual spring -securedthereto and todahe respective sidesbf the @hinge lug .forrrespectively urging and maintain- -:.ingthe lid in closed-and'open positions. All'jour- 1111811301 lids are dependentzupon-spring-pressure ttomaintain contact of'rthelid with the periphery .:0f:'the box copening. .In thezfa'll ofl945" the-*Association of American Railroads F Committee onlLubrication of Cars and Locomotives conducted rlengthy field observations .as .tOJIthG fit Of lidsJon Journal boXes=of railroad freight cars and rjf"26'11'.- "v .boxes examined only :96 rm'et'z'A. R. requirements and 1935 required 10 pounds or less pull to open. :It is thus practically obvious that with the increasedspeed :of freight ttrains,'rough road IbedS, buffing shocks, vibration. etc., that -these -lids, even though-equipped w-ith-springsto' h'ol'd them closed, ibounce'open more thanth'e width of the /21 flange and thus the box is Iope'nifor the direct entranceof foreign matter; which is'the primary cause of hot boxes. The spring is covered with the usual spring housing. Neither the spring nor spring housing are shown in the drawings since they are common and well known in the art, but, of course, would have to be assembled with the lid to make it properly function on the journal box.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be -understoodthat the invention is not limited to "the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications -=thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur tnnpersons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. 'A "rectangular lid for closing the service zopening .of. a railway car journal box, said lid comprising a body portion adapted for pivotal conrieritionalong one of its sides to said box and engageable with the edges of said opening to ;-.form.:-a.:sea1 1f.or=said-.opening, said lid having a "pontinuousffiange about the other three sides thereof adapted to overlap the corresponding cwallsof said opening'at least threetimes the re- :iquired twidth of aJ-stifieningfiange and to almost engage-theexterior of said box remote from said -edges'and1to'provide an enlarged space adjacent the edge opposite said pivotal connection 'when :the :lid :is in .closed position to reduce the wind cpressure against the lid atits place of engage- 'ment with saidlast mentioned edge.

:2. 2A- lid :for closingthe service opening of a railway4car journal box,:said 'lid comprising a body po'i'-.tionxadapted for. pivotal connection along one co'fiits isides ito said :box Land engageable with the edges of said opening, said'lid having a fiange'extending continuously around the other three-sides zn-th'ereof andadap'tedtto overlap .the corresponding waslls oflsaid opening at least three times the re- :nu'ired width 'ofastifiening'fiangeiand in slightly spaced-relation thereto when the lid is in "closed position.

3. A arectan'gular lid for closing the service -opening o'f a railway car journal box, --said lid being adapted forpivotal connection along one -of its-sides to one wall of-said box and having '-a:-continuousflange about -the '0ther"three sides thereof-formed to-overlap the -corresponding walls -of said opening at leastthrce times the required width (eta:stiffeningTflange when in closed posi- -tion and1to1almost engage said walls remote'from "said opening and alsoto provide an enlarged space between the place 'where the lid overlaps the wall opposite said-pivotal connection and the 5 place where the 'lidalmosb'engages said last men- -tioned wall.

GEORGE R. ANDERSEN.

REFERENCES :OI'EED The following references, are .of .record in the "file of this patent:

, UNITED STATES PATENTS --Number "Name Date "824,578 Patten June26,. 1906 "1,495,857 .Lukens ,May12'7, 1924 1162.4,708 Barrows Apr. '12, 1927 968,761 Groom Jul '31, 1934 

